Re: Down and Dirty about Radio
WOW!
Thank you!
This has been probably the best exchange about radio I have ever seen on here.
I appreciate your patience with me and I fully respect all of your answers.
Your answer to what listeners want was exactlly what I believe.
Entertain them.
I did however not mean that ANY local talent was better than national... even if they were bad... that is silly... what I meant was, if there are no talents here that can currently pull it off... then someone needs to nurture someone with potential or bring someone in from somewhere else who can do it.
I think that the investment in someone with potential will pay off in the long run.
Personally... I would love to be nurtured, I think I have potential... and if it is decided that I am not good enough yet... then I want to be told how to imporve... and it wouldnt even hurt my ego to hear that I completely stink... I have always begged my program directors or station managers for input... never got much, for various reasons, but I want to learn and be the best I can be...
If I am not good enough to be even nurtured... then so be it... I'll be on my way... but it sure would be great to have a chance.
I'm no expert, never claimed to be, I will readily admit that even though I have had steady employment in this business for 13 years, I am likely considered a failure by most standards... so far, but I will always believe that the best radio can be and should be something that connects a community.
My questions for radio are...
Does good business invest in ways to continue pleasing customers and making money in the future?
Then give a little back to the community by investing in the future... grow new talent!
Thanks!
> > > Radio, from the beginning, is "supposed" to be whatever
> > > listeners want that can also make a buck for the station
>
> > > owner.
> >
> > Do you think that network radio is really what the
> listeners
> > want?
>
> I did not say that. It was what they wanted for 30 years or
> so. And it is what worked for Stern, Delilah, Rush, etc. And
> it may be the model for entertainment in radio going into
> the content driven future.
> >
> > Don't you think they would prefer good local talent?
>
> No. Unless it is a talk show about local topics, which is a
> commodoty proporitonal to the size of the market, good
> talent trumps bad taent. It is not about where it comes
> from.
>
> As one listener observed to me on this very subject a few
> weeks ago: "It comes out of my speaker. Where it was before
> that doesn't matter."
> >
> > Radio was never better than when it had heroes.
>
> Stern and Rush and Delialah and many others are not
> "heroes?" The Green Hornet, Edgar Bergen, The Lone Ranger,
> Edward R. Morrow, H.G. Kaltenborn, etc., etc. were not
> heroes? They were all on networks.
> >
> > The local guy that was "our guy".
>
> Occasionally. But local alone is not a winning quality.
> Local and entertaining or local and interesting or local and
> fun are winning qualities. But there is a reason why local
> TV stations do not put local talk shows on against Leno at
> night. They run Simpsons reruns instead.
> >
> > Our.. "can't wait to hear what he has to say about this
> > guy", because we knew he was one of us!
>
> I talk to lots of listeners. I have never had localism come
> up spontaneously.
> >
> > Sure... network guys are fine... but ya gotta have good
> > local talent to connect it to the listners.
>
> I have never seen any evidence of this from the listeners
> themselves when a primo talent is the subject. Bad talent is
> bad, no matter where it comes from.
> >
> > How will Free FM connect with the people?
>
> I did not say it would. But most talk radio, outside the
> very biggest markets, is networked. This is because the
> great talent is in short supply and gets picked up in
> syndication.
> >
> > I love the format... but there has to be a local influence
>
> > in one of the drive times... or maybe launch the three in
> > miday and bring in a really good local team.
>
> The idea is good, if doable. Phoenix is big enough to afford
> it. Thie issue is whether they find the right talent at the
> right price that can compete with other programming at that
> time.
> >
> > With a straight face... tell me what the listeners want.
>
> They want to be entertained.
> >
> > Then tell me what it will take to save radio from the same
>
> > heap that they put wagon wheels and 8-Track tapes on.
>
> I did not realize the situation was so desparate. Radio is
> an 85 year old medium, and there is going to be accelerating
> erosion. But this is not a flas flood... it is a slow drip,
> drip, drip that will take place over many, many years. Radio
> has only lost about 2% of its cumers in the last 40 years.
> >
> > I have no doubt that in your line of work you have focus
> > groups and statistics and math to back you up.
>
> I actually manage a division that does that. Larger market
> stations spend millions and millions a year to find out what
> listeners want.
> >
> > But you will lose some credibility from your argument once
>
> > you add "...that can also make a buck for the station
> > owner."
>
> This is a business. The end goal of all programming
> decisions is to attract listeners that are viable
> advertising targets. Sorry, but it has been that way since
> the 20's.
> >
> > No doubt your math will include averaging out what is the
> > most cost effective way to get the most listeners.
>
> There is no formula. Every format, demo, ethnicity and
> market is different. Much of the cost is determined by how
> good the competiton is and how the competitive array is laid
> out.
> >
> > That math doesnt always include doing what the listeners
> > would love the most.
>
> No, not always. Because some listener groups are more
> salable than others. Nobody wants teens or 55+ for example,
> so a format opening in these areas is going to stay open.
> >
> > Your computation is an average, and because of it, radio
> is
> > now below average.
>
> No, it is more like a tuned circuit in electronics. You aim
> for the highest gain, and the broadest bandpass. You look
> for what you can do to make many people happy, and to hold a
> high passion level for as many of these as possible.
>
> The term "Broadcasting" implies mass appeal. People sells
> more than Model Model Railroad Hobbyist. Since radio useses
> a limited ocmmodity, frequencies, the model must be broad.
> >
> > My thoughts were... find a format... find an audience...
> > grow it to it's full potential... give the people what
> they
> > want... make money. Simple.
>
> That is usually the mode. But add in competiton, blocking
> tactics by competitors, marketing dollars, share of voice,
> etc. The model is more complex.
> >
> > When interacting with your listeners become little more
> than
> > a scientific mathmatic equasion based on the bottom
> line...
> > you end up with bland corporate radio...
>
> This is simple. You talk to them about likes and dislikes.
> Listeners are not programmers, and research is not a cristal
> ball... you can see today and yesterday, but not tomorrow.
> See what listeners like, how satisfied they are, and you
> come up with responses.
> >
> > What happened to the days of the 10+ share station???
>
> FM is what happend. The 10 share stations happened when each
> market had fewer competitive signals. There are still only
> 100 total share points, and there are more stations in every
> market going after it.
> >
> > I'm not saying spend silly money... but don't trim and cut
>
> > back every last penny til you have no local host... voice
> > tracking is the WORST thing that can happen to radio by
> the
> > way... it removes one more connection your listeners can
> > have to you.
>
> In some formats, listeners tell you the biggest objection is
> the announcers. Any announcers. So there are formats that
> demand live, others that demand that you shut up and play
> the hits.
> >
> > Sure an owner is entitiled to make a buck... but when
> > squeezing every last dime out of a market includes
> diluting
> > the talent pool and short changing the listener... you
> have
> > lost your radio soul.
>
> The fact that there are so many stations means the same ad
> pie is being sliced thinner. Did you know that from the 50's
> through the mid-90's, half of all US radio stations did not
> make money?
> >
> > Radio started becoming irrelevant when radio became
> > soul-less.
>
> which, again, does not answer the question of why over 93%
> of Americans use radio each week, and why they liten about
> 20 hours on the average each week... nearly the same as in
> 1950!
>
> > Your "soul" of radio is moving to other media... or giving
>
> > up for lack of a chance... lack of a nurturing
> enviroment...
> >
>
> You are judging radio on what is important to you, which
> seems to be jocks and talent. That is not true for all
> people. FOr many, it is the music, or even the lack of
> jocks.
>